The albums have been graded on the most common grading system used in
Finnish schools. Where 4 is the worst, and 10 is the best. The final score
for the album is most of the times the average for all of the tracks, though it can also change if the reviewer wishes so. The Super Eurobeat Non-Stop albums will be reviewed as full collections, and the individual songs won't be reviewed, unless they are completely new. Though Euromach and JGTC albums for example will have complete song by song reviews.
The grading system simply goes as ie. 4- (3,75), 4 (4), 4+ (4,25) and 4½ (4,5) and the next one again would be 5-. A simple system we have over here in Finland.

Super Eurobeat 185

1.Kiki & Fancy - Pararappa Dance (SCP)
Well while many might disagree with me on this, but it really is time to
have Kiki & Fancy as the album openers. The SCP fun-duo have been
releasing new songs steadily since their first SEB appearence back at
SEB144. The level of practically every song has been high with just a few
notches down from the awesome quality, so it doesn't come as no surprise
that Pararappa Dance is yet an another fun faire to please the
happy eurobeat boys & girls. Question whether this song had the best kind
of intro to be the album opener is a matter of its own though, since I
feel the intro doesn't really serve justice to the otherwise effective and
catchy song. The track features all of the basic SCP bubbly elements: fast
synth, lyrics that are fun to dance to, but make no sense at all, bouncy
melody and lots of nonverbal vocals. A nice way to keep the Kiki &
Fancy title rolling.Rating : 9½

2.Franz Tornado & The Bombardier Girls - Bomba (HI-NRG Attack)
Quite truthfully when I see a new Franz Tornado title on an
upcoming SEB tracklisting I rarely get my hopes too high, which in a way
is amusing since most of the tracks have been big hits for me. Before
actually hearing the song, I had zero expectations for the song so it
doesn't really come as a surprise that this track really blew me away.
While many of the HRG productions are energetic and aggressive, they
rarely come at this caliber. The track features really aggressive
in-your-face synths that stand out most clearly from the whole song.
Masculine and energetic vocals by Federico really do justice to
this awesome production as well. If you are a fan of HRG I can't see any
point why you wouldn't enjoy this song as I feel it really rises above the
masses due to the sheer brilliance in basic production values.Rating : 10-

3.Kimmy - My Oh My (Delta)
If my expectations were close to non-existant with Bomba, I have to
say they were even lower for a Kimmy song, which is fortunate.
There have been fairly many mellow eurobeat songs that just don't really
work, nor catch my attention in any way, but My Oh My proves that
this kind of stuff can be made with good taste and style. The song kicks
off with a superb intro that packs punch into a otherwise rather calm song
that only speeds up in the c-melo. The chorus of the song sums the whole
essence of the song in a simple and effective way: fun. Delta have
produced fairly multiple mellow and not so aggressive female tracks in the
recent years, but this might just be the first time for quite some time
that I was blown away after hearing the song fully for the first time.
With this kind of direction for the future Delta productions I'd be more
than happy.Rating : 10

4.De Leo - Funky Lady 2008 (Time)
I've quite enjoyed the original Funky Lady in the past, but with
the recent history of bad remakes I didn't really provide much hope for
this remake either. The song somehow manages to fuse the best points of
the recent remake sounds and the original song's highlights to a rather
efficient stew. While the original Gino Caria vocals can't really
be replicated, I have to say that Cristian De Leo does a fairly
impressive performance this time around. While the brilliance of the
original song can't really be reached with the remake it works with its
own merits. Speedy melody backed up with very typical Time sounds are
pretty much a hit or miss thing for me, but this time around they work and
the song flows on nicely. The same yapping about constant remakes apply
here none the less, may it be a new Alexis or a Rose song,
I'd still more gladly hear them than remakes.Rating : 8½

5.King & Queen - Go Go Go Baby Go (A-Beat C)
At the 5th song and also the 5th label, the level of the album still
remains surprisingly high. Even though the classic King & Queen
title has been appearing on SEB a lot lately, the level of the songs has
been really high in contrast to most of the other A-Beat C tracks. Go
Go Go Baby Go could be thought of as the mental follow up to Go
Baby Go, in more than the very obvious reason. The song features a
very easy to sing and bouncy chorus that is the key to the whole song.
Annerley handles the vocals with such a spark that it's a pleasure
hearing her losen it up a bit and enjoy the happier side of eurobeat.
Go Go Go Baby Go might not be the most original song title ever, but
it fits a happy song that will surely become a Best Of '08 entry due to it
being a perfect nonstop song with many of the basic transition parts for
nonstops. A very nice way to keep the album going and if A-Beat C just
manage to bring a bit more variety and life into this sort of productions
I'll be converting back into A-Beat C fanboyism.Rating : 10-

6.Digital Planet - Take My Desire (A-Beat C)
When the generic eurobeat intro takes approximately 10 seconds, this track
uses up nearly 1/4th of the whole song for it, which is fairly bewildering
considering the essence and purpose of eurobeat. In a different genre it
would probably be a very typical thing, but with eurobeat I have to wonder
if this was considered thoroughly. The intro is also the weakest link of
the whole show, it's airy, boring and it just goes on for too long. The
other parts of the song on othe other hand are rather nicely produced
mellow Digital Planet like the past tracks from Stefano have
been. The song somehow reeks of Norma to me, which could be
considered a bad thing, but for some reason it works for the songs
advantage this time around. A good chorus, nice basic melody, it all just
needs more meat around the bones to make it really effective.Rating : 7½

7.Vanessa - Take It Easy (Time)
Yet an another complaint about boring intros, what is it really with this
album and tracks featuring really boring and incomprehensible intros? When
I was listening to the album for the first time at the background while
playing some strategy games I almost gave myself a heart attack after
noticing myself humming to this song and going 'what is this, it's good'
in my head, before realising that it was a Time female song. The track
sounds very plain and generic, but it still works, the reason why, I have
no idea. I gave the song multiple repeats and I tried to find that special
hook, special part about it that would've made me hum along, but it just
wasn't there. Maybe this just means that even generic eurobeat with
practically no signs of uniqueness can work well. Oh and One Night In
Tokyo, where? Rating : 8+

8.Kelly T. - Tell Me Why You Say (A-Beat C)
The airiness of Norma is back for vengeance, and it ain't going
away it seems. I could say the same thing about bad intros again, what a
surprise. The song suffers from a rather typical Norma Sheffield-syndrome
as it has various parts that sound really nice and beautiful, but most of
the song sinks deeper and deeper into the swamp. The c-melody is truly
beautiful and strikes to me as one of the more beautiful ballad-clips from
the recent eurobeat songs, it just is a shame when the rest of the song
just sounds boring (aside for the parts of the chorus where Kelly
sings the actual song title). Too lightly produced, but then again the
aishu euro has a fanbase of its own, I'm not one of them.Rating : 7-

9.Betty Feat. Annalise - The One For Me (A-Beat C)
Intro, sucks, broken record much? So the mandatory Annalise for the
album is here again, but what is this? The song is actually quite
efficient. The song does not break the formula of the previous Annalise
songs, but instead introducing a 2nd vocalist somehow manages to bring a
new life for the track. The song has a rather interesting structure since
most of the song seems to blend together rather seamlessly and noticing
when the bridge ends and chorus starts is fairly hard, quite frankly it
feels like it's just one long verse, a pretty nice verse if I may add.
Whether the vocalist is the same one from GGM, I won't even try to
pinpoint that, I just say that whoever it is, she sounds really good in
this duet. Maybe we need to get more Annerley duets. Annalise
Feat. A-Beat C All Stars incoming, anyone?Rating : 8½

10.Pamsy - Emotional Child (SCP)
So it obviously isn't just Annalise who is getting heavy promotion
on SEB lately, Pamsy has been a very frequent visitor in our
CD-players as well. Her style still hasn't ventured far from the original
path since she still seems to do a rather different job than most of the
other SCP artists. Emotional Child is yet an another mid-paced
eurobeat song with, cloudy synths and over all a trance-flavored mood. Not
a master piece like some of her older tracks, but it doesn't really have
much bad in it either, it just lacks the actual punch to become as
memorable as per say Livin' In The Night, but perhaps a good entry
for the next JGTC.Rating : 8-

11.Dave Rodgers - The V.I.P. Is JP (A-Beat C)
When the original extended version of this song was featured on 178 I
immediately fell in love with the old school A-Beat C style and of course
Mr. Loureiro's guitars. While many of the other songs Dave
has lately performed lately have lacked punch, this track is a whole
different chapter. The song features an incredibly catchy melody and the
chorus is so fun and easy to sing along to, it just reeks of good old
effective Dave. The original extended song worked pretty well and
while this song hasn't in reality gotten that many changes, the most
disctinctive diffence is adding the shout "Junction Produce!" here
and there between the verses, which just feels off place, a lot. I had
before realised how the song is some Junction Produce marketing tool
naturally, but why add the title here and there is the question, also is
Avex somehow tied with JP? I probably could get the answers through Google
if I read Japanese, but shrug. Well either way, this is a solid
Giancarlo production that is a slice of the golden days of A-Beat C
males for me.Rating : 9½

12.Frank Torpedo - Para Para Night 2008 (Time)
Oh wow, we have YET an another sucky intro, or maybe it's just me. The
original song is a true eurobeat classic so remaking it does feel natural
and to be quite frank I have to admit they did a bloody good job for a
change. The track doesn't really sound all that much like the original and
it's mostly a good sound since it mostly feels like a new song all
together. The verses sound totally remade but the bridge and chorus
naturally sound like the distinctive eurobeat classic. Good vocals, great
sounds, nice production values over all, may just be one of the best Time
remakes.Rating : 9½

13.Sara - Baby Fly (Delta)
An annoying "WooooooooOOooo!" to start the song with, the intro
otherwise does not suck though. The song has a slice of older Delta á la
the songs by Suzy Lazy and the likes in the years before the
3-number SEBs. The track keeps the fast pace up constantly which feels
slightly overwhelming if you listen to the song multiple times in a row
and I was even slightly hoping for a slightly calmer c-melody to reset the
upbeat tempo for a while. The last minute of the song works a whole lot
better than the first 3 since it somehow feels much more consistent and
effective when they leave key-elements alone for a while and play with
variety more than going full out the whole time. Either way the song is
rather nice, just needs a bit of some extra spice and voilá, now it's a
***-star meal instead of ***** that I wanted.Rating : 8

14.Baby Gold - Kiss Me Now (HI-NRG Attack)
For some reason it took me ages to grasp that this isn't a Time song,
something about the intro with robotic vocals and a general mellow mood
just reek of Time to me. Kiss Me Now has a very heavy Euromach
touch to it and I wouldn't be surprised if this song originated back a few
years at all. The song has the nice touch of HRG all around, may it be the
guitars in the backgrounds, pitched vocals or aggressive melody, basic
nice, but not the quality that Bomba offered us.Rating : 7½

15.Christine - Candy Baby (SCP)
Well, I have to say I am very very pleasantly surprised with the direction
Christine suddenly took. She has presented us with beautiful
eurobeat ballads, wacky fun euromach material and about everything in
between, lately it just felt that maybe her attitude had matured a bit,
scrap that obviously. Candy Baby is everything I've been wanting to
hear from her for quite a while, it's really upbeat, happy and features
some of the most ingenious eurobeat sound effects ever. The track is so
amazingly happy it makes me feel all fuzzy inside everytime I hear it, not
the least because of the effects that remind me of my youth together with
an 8-bit NES. The track is a mental follower to such Christine
classics as Crazy Generation & Mr. Nice Guy, the only thing
I want to add to this review is that I want to hear more of this! Pure
SCP-bliss.Rating : 10

16.Kasanova - Feel Me Tender (Time)
Every SEB has that one notch down, I was faintly hoping this album might
be missing that, but Kasanova to the rescue and not even late. If
generic eurobeat could sound good like I stated before, it also can sound
like crap. Feel Me Tender sounds like a production that lacked
improvision and imagination. The backgrounds feature nice violin (?)
sounds that are the only nice spice that strike as appealing to me about
the song, the rest just sounds recycled and lifeless. Chorus lacks energy
and dedication, it just sounds like it wasn't sung with a real feeling at
all.Rating : 6

17.Cody - Final Destination (Delta)
If we've had some very macho-esque SEBs lately, this album has been
slightly underpowered in comparison to some of the previous ones. Cody
is one of the manly men who keep the fire burning and with dark-shades on.
Final Destination sounds and feels like the kind of Delta I've
grown to love during the recent years. The track has nice variety in
sounds, it clearly chops off various parts of the song and giving a
breather in between so you know what's coming next. Effective vocals,
really catchy chorus and great sounds together produce a very efficient
yet typical Delta song. Vocal wise there's something about the intro in
particular that sounds great and the "WoOOooo" sounds really cool.Rating : 9½

18.Mega NRG Man Feat. Domino - Back To 80's(Go Go's
Music)So the album is finally wrapping with a duo that has high expectations
from practically all eurobeat listeners due to the fact that it combines
one of the most well known male vocalists and maybe the most widely known
female. I was heavily hyped about this song because of a person who shall
remain anonymous for now, so I had my hopes higher than high, did they
match, read on. I have mostly loved everything GGM have put out and at
first I was declaring that this is the first production I just don't enjoy.
My initial reactions were even close to annoyance and the song just lacked
the energy, the fun, the feel of every other GGM production, but by time I
grew to enjoy it more, but not as much as I would have expected. Vocal
work rocks all around, but the song just suffers from a rather boring
chorus that should be the key to the whole track. The intro and c-melody
on the other hand work brilliantly but slowing the tempo down for the
verses and chorus feels like a bad move here, it's all a matter of taste I
guess. Either way, in the end I grew to like the song but my opinion is
that this sort of a fantastic duo could have produced even better.Rating : 8½

Final Words :
When I preorder a SEB I mostly always have high expectations for the
album, this time around I hadn't given much consideration to what the
album even consisted, I just wanted to keep the monthly CD incoming, but I
have to say I was fuzzily welcomed by a cheery album. After all the
masculine albums I am perfectly at home with this kind of feel good
eurobeat that euromach introduced me to. The album moves on the generic
SEB level over all, but due to the fact that I'm a huge fan of the female
eurobeat with cheery and upbeat production values this album felt like a
much better one for me than the actual average says. The SCP girls give a
good show all around and King & Queen keep the happy fun rock
moving from person to an another, I can only hope this sort of mood goes
on since this album was basically my favorite from the 180s so far. Nice
job over all by the labels and even the remakes sounded well thought, one
actual slump from the general level is definitely an improvement.